#rip ffxv

[berrydoodleoo]

the king’s hand (defier of destiny)

[missregality]

Bright light!

[weregreatatcrime]

Fuck it. I couldn't help but draw some more of Prompto in this AU bcz he's a cutie pie. He works as a photographer/handyman/bird handler at Wiz’s and his favorite bird is an orange one named Peanut. She would, could, has, and will continue to kill for Prompto.

[bladesandstars]

rules: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone's favourite!

(if you see this, consider yourself tagged! I'm shy about tagging)

[aserehtnayr]

Looking for Role-Play Partner, 18+ Only

Would prefer to use Discord but open to other options.

Open to both Fandom and non-fandom Roleplay’s

Fandom’s I am interested in are as follows

Dragon age

X-files

Resident evil

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XVI

Yakuza

The Witcher ( Books, Comics and Games ) Not the Netflix show

Spy x Family

Tokyo Ghoul

Marvel

The Conjuring

Like or send us a message if interested or have any questions :)

[paracosmicparadox]

So I finished FFXV ages ago, but I've been thinking about it lately bc you know, I elaborated the chocobros' story far further than it was meant to go and got way more attached to them than I should have. So here're some things that the game did really well and some of the things it didn't. (you don't have to agree w anything here; I'm not trying to corrupt y'all w my opinions; I just feel like talking)

Let's start with the bad to get it out of the way:

CINDY. I swear to everything holy her character had the potential to be So Cool if she hadn't been so overtly over-sexualized. Like, I'm a woman-liker too and I get it, lady mechanics are hot af, but you know what else is attractive? Safety in the workplace. Cindy's outfit was not something any mechanic would be caught dead wearing. Yeah, it was designed to be sexy, but do you know how many burns she would've accumulated from the hot oil and metal she works with? There's a reason mechanics typically wear clothing zipped up when they're actually working on something. If anything, Cindy's character design just made me uncomfortable. Her character itself? Great. No qualms there. Her design? Please acquire more than two square feet of fabric I'm begging you. I just feel like Cindy deserved to be so much more than fan service.

Luna's brief time on-screen. Yet another potentially incredible and deep female protagonist who got short change from this game. People joke a lot that Luna wasn't at all an important character because the game never really treated her like one. She was MEANT to be important, clearly, but it felt like she existed just for her tearjerking death scene? Like there was SO MUCH overlooked potential to bring her into the storyline as more than Tragic Love Interest In White, and yet?? Idk it frustrated me.

The emotional aspect of the game felt rushed. There were a lot of emotional scenes covered throughout the plotline ranging from King Regis's death to the deal with Prompto at Zegnautus Keep. I feel like the game TRIED to cover them realistically and show the characters' grief, but it didn't quite get there. It was just sort of an "Oh, how sad. I'm so upset and angry. Hm, what's that? My friends believe in me without truly understanding and I can kill someone to ease my pain? Oh okay I'm better now." I get that realistic healing cycles are kinda hard to portray within a set timeframe, but having some lingering effects of the blatant trauma inflicted would've been nice. You don't recover from shit like that in a week's time.

Character personalities tended to be one-sided. Noctis was edgy, Prompto was happy-go-lucky, Gladio was tough-guy, and Ignis was... nevermind, Iggy was great--- HE had some on-screen depth. Personally, I've developed these characters myself far more than what the game gave us, but I wish we'd gotten more canon depth beyond their surface-level traits. I love them with my whole heart and they deserve genuine complexity.

Now the things I actually really enjoyed:

The graphics were on-point. The amount of detail put into character design and into monsters was insane. You could zoom in and see individual textures on skin and hair and feathers, bringing a level of realism to the game that I personally enjoyed.

All of the Latin and Norse mythological references!! As a Latin nerd, I found little gems everywhere in this game. Esp in the names--- (Noctis Lucis Caelum = Of-the-night Sky-of-light (the genitives in there make the literal translation kinda a mouthful ik) Gladiolus Amicitia = Sword-flower Friendship (the gladiolus is an actual flower that gets its name from the Latin word gladius, meaning sword, for its sword-like shape) Ignis Scientia = Fire Knowledge; Prompto Argentum = Ready Silver (the word prompto is actually in the dative (possibly ablative), making the literal translation nonsense, but if they'd made his name Promptus, it would've sounded awkward, so I can see why they picked the dative/ablative form of the adjective for stylistic reasons and I put the rough translation instead)) WOW THAT WAS A LOT OF PARENTHETICAL INFO WHOOPS

Ardyn's character. I'm not saying this bc I'm one of the fans who fawn over him---Ardyn is DEFINITELY NOT MY PREFERRED FLAVOR OF MAN, but character-wise, he made an excellent antagonist. He was witty, slick, and classy in an I'm-gonna-outstep-you-like-it's-hopscotch sorta way. He was a poetic villain done well, which made him an antagonist you could both sympathize for and absolutely detest given the situation. He was both the master manipulator and the pawn one space away from the edge of the board. He can sway a crowd, but you know deep in your gut just by the cunning greed in his eyes that You Cannot Trust The Man. He was definitely Not a good person (tragic backstory isn't an excuse), but he was a good villain.

I loved the bond between the chocobros?? This is probably bc I'm a sucker for the found family trope, but their interactions were so amazing to me?? Like, not even the cutscene stuff. Just their little sidebar conversations during fights or while you're walking around or driving the Regalia. They're Roadtrip Buddies™ and I think that's excellent.

THE FOOD. By god, the food in this game looked absolutely scrumptious and I would like to partake. The Daggerquill Soup? Give it to me I'll pay you. The Creamy Crustacean Omelet? Stop it right now I'll eat that so fast it'll be a criminal offense. Like I know I touched on the graphics earlier, but broski I was not kidding. I guess I know why the game took so long to make it to the market bc the detail that went into these recipes is absolutely mouthwatering.

[thedarkrose17]

Sunshine Incarnate Rewrite Chapter 20

So I probably should have been doing this sooner but the whole fic's on ao3. Please comment cause it helps fuel my motivation, let's me know people actually like this au and will hopefully get faster updates out

Also eventual Promptis not yet though

(Sorry no chapter preview the app isn't being great trying to set that up)

Fic tldr: au where Prom's an astral and tries to rewrite fate

Chapter Summary:

After doing a few errands for Cindy they have enough for fuel and some food but by the time they’ve finished it’s turning dark.

“Y’all should stay put, ain’t safe travellin’ at night.” Cindy states.

“Daemons?” Prompto asks.

The mechanic nods

[smallest-turtle]

Cid having no idea that Mors thinks positively of him bc of how his smoke break spot and Mors's 'i need to get away from this strategy meeting before i blow something up' spot was the same crumbling turret for the few months they were stationed at the same base in their 20's because they so rarely spoke a word to one another while up there.

[kiloude-city]

My XV favoritism on DFFOO. I'm gonna miss you so much </3 😭😭😭

[jan-holdres]

I've now finished all available side quests and ended on Insomnia's quests.

Deeply sad and in a loss for words how much this playthrough means to me.

And then Prompto came with this, perfectly encapsulating my feelings.

[ravusnightblossom]

@sanguinepeccatorum moved from here. (Mourning the loss of notes, but moved to a new post because uneditable Legacy thread. *sad*)

Vincent falls to the comfort of silence throughout the journey, keeping his eyes closed and his posture relaxed as he leaned against his love; doing his best to ignore any bumps or turbulence. He detested such movements on the average day and such strange feelings of unease and nausea were only heightened when feeling already so unwell.

Once all movement stopped, Vincent forced his eyes to reopen and for his legs to raise him upward; to be home, it bought a sense of comfort to the very depths of his chest - such a small detail, and yet he could not cast it aside as silly. Much had happened at the Valentine estate over the years, as far back as those that had chosen to build it some several, if not more, generations before himself; but it was still home. His legs felt akin to jelly as he moved and as much as he detested showing such, Vincent really was relying upon his love to keep him semi-moving in the right direction. Once at the door, Vincent splay out his palm against the grain of the wood and pushed it, the welcoming warmth of the inside bringing more solace than he could hope to describe. Thoughts, however, did not linger upon that for very long, instead, he coughs into his glove and winces at the throb of his head, reminded all too terribly of how awful he felt. “Are you hungry-?” He asks, smile drawing over pale features.

⋞⁘♔⁘⋟ Truly? They had only just arrived and he was trying to dote on Ravus while in such a sickly state, himself? Eyes rolled as he shook his head, gently urging Vincent further into the home.

"Enough of that," he said softly, noting the cough and the wince with growing concern. Rationally, he knew it would take something more than a cold bug or a virus to take down his immortal beloved, but that didn't cease his disgruntle for Vincent even having to deal with being in his state.

"I am perfectly capable of making my own food. What you need to do is go rest. To the bed with you. I will make you some tea and be in momentarily." Ravus wouldn't take no for an answer in this persistence. If Vincent wouldn't let his own feet take him there, he would carry him, himself.

He kept a hand on the other's lower back as he lead them through the home, all the while making certain he didn't accidentally step on Whiskey. He hadn't seen the feline yet, but he knew he would come as soon as he sat down a dish of food for the cat, something he would do after he saw to his companion.

"Perhaps we should get Whiskey a friend," Ravus suggested as an idle thought while stepping aside to veer into the kitchen. At least he knew where everything was. He filled the kettle and put it on to heat as he began sifting through the cabinets for the tea he had tucked into the back the last time he had been there.

[missregality]

Noctis getting swamped compilation.

[boxfullaturtles]

Once upon a time, I had an idea for a Rise x FFXV fic. I'm not going to write it because I'm not THAT crazy, but here's a bit I wrote for it at the time because I still think about it sometimes.

Mostly for the silly hahas and the angst and how now everyone has to ride chocobos because the party no longer fits in the car lol.

Anyway, here's this. Uh, lead up? Someone was stealing supplies from the campsites while the Chocobros were out. Manage to track the thief down and it's two turtles? And one of them's really hurt? Would it be a lie to say stranger things have happened to these guys?

-----------

“So, what are you guys anyway?” Prompto asks the question through a mouthful of meat, looking Mikey up and down with unashamed curiosity.

“Dude, really?” Noct elbows Prompto in the ribs, almost tipping him over, “They’re obviously turtles.”

“Hey!” Prompto aims a sloppy kick at Noct, missing by a mile, “I meant why are they turtles walking on two legs and talking!”

Ignis loudly clears his throat when Noct and Prompto start kicking at each other. They immediately settle down and tuck back into their dinner.

Mikey hides a laugh as he answers, “Weelllll, we’re mutants! We used to be regular turtles, but then we got combined with some ooze and human DNA and BAM! Instant mutant turtle, baby!” He shrugs at the blank looks he gets from the four humans, “It’s kind of a long story. And complicated.”

When he doesn’t continue, Prompto raises his eyebrows expectantly. But Mikey just takes another bite of food and doesn’t elaborate. Noct trades a glance with Gladio and then with Ignis. The crackling of the campfire fills the silence.

“You mentioned earlier,” Ignis finally tip-toes carefully into the awkward space, “That you believe you and your brother to be...lost?”

“Brothers,” Mikey corrects and it’s the most solemn he’s sounded all day. He lowers his fork so it rests absently on the edge of his plate, staring into the fire, “There’s four of us. Me, Leo and Donnie, and our big brother Raph. I don’t...I don’t know how we got here. It’s all messed up in my head, just confusion and light and…” He takes a deep breath, “I don’t know what happened. I just remember trying to grab onto my brothers but we all got ripped away from each other and then,” He shrugs absently, gaze distant, “I dunno, I woke up somewhere I didn’t know. Wandered around until I managed to find Leo.”

“Leo, he say how he got hurt?” Gladio asks, “It looks like a real nasty voretooth bite but—”

“Yeah, and how come you guys were in a cave instead of a Haven?” Prompto interrupts, “Can’t believe you weren’t attacked this whole time!”

Mikey blinks, “A Haven? What’s a Haven?”

“This is a Haven,” Ignis explains over Noct hissing things at Prompto, “They are safe places that protect travelers from the dangers of the night. Their blessing keeps evil at bay.”

“Oh,” Mikey looks down at the gently glowing runes beneath his feet. It’s darker now, the only remains of the sun a pale red stripe along the horizon, and they blue glow is brighter, clearer, “Huh.”

He’d felt something whenever he set foot on the runes, some kind of tingling warmth washing over him like a gentle tide. But he’d never lingered long enough to chase the feeling or find its source. He’s about to reach out to it with his Ninpō, just to see what would happen, when there comes a sound from the darkness beyond the Haven.

Something flares in the night, darker than black, a frothing void of pitch and foul tar. It yawns open, boiling at the edges as the world crumples to make way for it, and a grotesque creature unfolds from within it, spilling out into the night. It’s yards away, barely visible, but Mikey can just make out the writhing tentacles from the starlight alone.

His throat closes and he’s on his feet, his nunchaku in his hands. A terrified, dizzying nausea is making his gut churn, heart racing so hard its like it’s trying to tear from his chest. He swear he can feel the thing’s eyes on him in the dark, just at the edge of where the firelight can reach. Rage and terror boil inside him, his mind racing. Can he protect everyone here? Can he keep Leo safe? He doesn’t see a metal suit so maybe—

A hand presses on his shell and Mikey starts badly, nearly swinging his nunchaku up to hit whoever touched him.

Ignis doesn’t even flinch at Mikey’s aborted movement, just keeps a calm expression, patient as he looks out into the dark, “A mindflayer. Rather nasty foe and one I would not recommend facing alone.” He turns back to Mikey, keeping a steady hand on the curve of Mikey’s shell, “It’s quite all right, Michelangelo, daemons cannot come near Havens. As I said, they are warded against evil. For one to spawn so close is unusual, but it won’t be able to get any closer. There, see,” Ignis nods his head as indication, “It’s already drifting away.”

Mikey glances from Ignis back to the thing that had crawled into existence—the mindflayer. It’s no longer facing them, already disappearing into the shadows of the trees and fading out of sight. Mikey tries to steady his shaking breath and lets his arms fall to his sides, ends of his weapons knocking against his legs.

They’re safe here. They’re really, actually safe.

[writermich18]

FFXV Writing Prompt

Ardyn has not heard his brother speak since they were kids. He communicated through gestures, written words, and signs he made up.

'Swords need no voice.' Ardyn stares, heart breaking, at the words Somnus had written in his journal over and over again. The ink spilled across the pages and their ripped state. The almost frantic, tear-stained words on the page.

Who told him that? Who taught him that?

Why had Ardyn never noticed? Why had it taken him (stealing) borrowing Somnus's journal for him to learn why, to question why?

[rosewiltd]

            𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄  𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒,  not  for  the  first  time,  what  she  did  to  deserve  this.  Of  all  of  the  stresses  in  her  life  —  paperwork,  organising  records,  familial  drama,  and  a  lacklustre  social  life  —  worrying  about  whether  or  not  the  prince  fulfills  his  assigned  responsibilities  should  be  the  least  of  them.  Were  all  princes  this  way,  or  was  Noctis  merely  a  special  case?  That,  she'd  never  know.  What  she  does  know  is  that  Ignis  had  clearly  seen  this  outcome  long  before  asking  her  to  take  his  place  for  the  rest  of  the  day,  and  she's  sour  about  it.  He's  horrible.  And  he  owes  her  an  Ebony  after  this.  An  extra  large  one.  With  a  lot  of  caffeine.

            The  huff  she  elicits  resounds  with  the  barest  hint  of  indignation  at,  what  she  perceives  to  be,  him  teasing  her  for  stepping  in  his  path.  It  would  have  been  almost  nice  of  him,  maybe  even  chivalrous,  if  it  hadn't  been  ruined  by  his  antics. 

❝   Even  if  you  did  outrun  me,  I  would  find  you,   ❞  she  snips;  and  really,  she  should  be  careful.  Lax  though  Noctis  may  appear,  he  was  still  the  Prince  of  Lucis.  She  needed  to  mind  her  manners  if  she  wanted  to  keep  working  in  the  archives.  Fingers  grip  the  tome  a  little  tighter. 

Still,  the  temptation  to  whack  him  just  once  upside  the  head  lingers.

            ❝   I  cannot  say  what  is  and  isn't  important  to  him.  I  am  merely  relaying  what  Ignis  told  me.  I  am  just  trying  to  do  my  job,  Noc—  your  highness.  ❞  Can  you  please  do  this  for  me?  she  thinks,  but  doesn't  give  voice  to.  Her  dark  eyes  are  imploring  enough  as  it  is.

they appear to be escaping the sharp structure of lucis'. a warden guiding their charge, fleeing paradise. improving upon the irony. the young man doesn't wait to see if she follows. delacroix was always behind him.

“ ignis? 's that why he isn't here? ” he hears it: the hitch of her breath and the hints of her shoes, but his gait remains wide and focused. at least, until they start reaching a section of the corridor that split into two paths. he is listening closely to wherever her feet fall. the sound surges and his legs close just as the image of her becomes his oncoming horizon.

the woman is a flurry of elegant hair sweeping back, like a pendulum forced to stop, weapon of choice in her hands. he thinks for an odd-sized second that she might use this book on him causing a smile to begin and end right beneath his eyes, “ i think, his majesty, already has his desk full with — higher priority matters. failing a simple history lesson, isn't really a nationwide emergency. wouldn't you agree? ” their deep-colored eyes meet with the thick bind of the book, thirtieth volume in a growing series. one that would swallow his name whole one day.

eyebrows fall lower, although it was near impossible to tell under the hat he chose to wear. their hands slip into the deep pockets of his pants in succession. more comfortable in civilian clothes. he relaxes the weight in his upper chest enough to bend slightly toward her.

“ afraid i'll outrun you corinne? you didn't need to stop in front of me. would've slowed down if you'd asked. ” eluding the swing of consequence by electing another topic. perhaps temporarily, it depended on her resolve to convince him today.

[amidst-wonderland]

final fantasy 15 thoughts (replay)

just as a psa, spoilers of course but also this is not in chronological order, not by a long shot as these are thoughts / feelings i’ve been holding onto for almost ten years. (also, i’ll add to this once i’ve finished dawn of the future.)

this is easily the most tense, creepy and downright freighting final fantasy game. say what you will about chapter thirteen but they really know how to build momentum in such an eery way in gralea (you can literally find the clothes of npc’s you’ve encountered like dino’s, in other words they’ve been taken and turned into daemons by the niffs). also, arguably the most bittersweet ending. as, pretty much everyone dies. everyone in kingsglaive, apart from libertus dies.

i used to think ray chase went a bit over the top in the early game in-terms of acting but upon revisit, he absolutely smashes it. that section as the boys look over insomnia is heart-wrenching. final fantasy to me has always been a bit wishy-washy in-terms of voice acting. characters were passable but the voice direction is a little messy at best and sometimes downright flat (which some of the terrible sound mixing doesn’t help) but when it comes to modern final fantasy games? they’re incredible and i couldn’t go back. ray, cody and ben were perfect in their roles (i low-key think cody got snubbed at TGA’s this year but maybe it’s just one actor per game).

on this scene though, i remember there being discourse about iris phoning noctis first, over gladio but it makes total sense to me. gladiolus’ role as the shield is to take a bullet for the king, if noctis is dead according to the press then how do you think that happened? we quite literally see it played out with their fathers.

fifteen’s soundtrack will always be my favourite overall, seven is up there too with ‘seven seconds till the end’, ‘one last date’, ‘tifa’s theme’ and ‘on our way’ but taking the entire soundtrack into account i’d have to say fifteen is just perfect, it’s one of the few things at launch that simply couldn’t be critiqued. also, considering it’s yoko shimomura ‘scala ad caelum’ from kh3 sounds like it could be ripped right from endgame ffxv. its sounds like a more darker version of ‘somnus ultima’. like ‘true love’ is basically luna’s theme + ‘somnus’ as one. ‘home sweet home’, ‘lightless journey’ and ‘dewdrops at dawn’ are perfect in every way (can you tell i like a good piano and violin number? also, if you like ffxv, go listen to professor layton’s, ‘london streets 3’)

speaking of kh3, i have zero interest in anything but the versus thirteen stuff and whilst i don’t know if i’ll play it. i am seated for kh4 to see where nomura’s magnum opus goes, if anything i just want more of yoko’s ‘not, not ffxv’ music.

i truly wish there was more of the kings as they are without a doubt my favourite aspect in the lore with them obviously being this game’s version of ‘knights of the round’ and they way they wove this into an arthurian-inspired story. like, they basically beat you over the head that the ‘sword of the father’ is excalibur. yeah, we don’t have the physical summon but that’s not to say we can’t summon them, which we technically do as noctis is summoning their weapons and the way they’re depicted impaling noct and killing ardyn is basically how their actual summon is.

i’ve been writing this whilst waiting for my game to fully upload, so i only had a the option to play a new game with no royal additions yesterday and now that’s it’s downloaded, my almost two-hundered hour save file is gone, so looks like i really will be replaying this because i don’t have playstation plus. like cheers sony telling me i’ve got 187 hours in a game to only show me three saves that were created less than a day ago.

apparently there were cut lines of the npc’s mentioning what happened with the glaive. which is so disappointing because the kingsglaive themselves are such a big deal but i always felt this weird disconnect between the film and the game outside of regis and luna, like there’s not even a moment of iris and gladio talking about how their father was killed, like do they even learn how regis died?! if i’m right in thinking, the only reference to kingsglaive is when ignis mentions nyx putting on the ring, but we don’t ever learn of them hearing about it. pretty sure noctis would have some choice words, he doesn’t even mention ravus doing the same. also, luna was supposed to join the party with a bahamut summon?! which is kinda weird, because to me bahamut is as much the bad guy in the story as ardyn, somnus and nifflheim. if we wanna compare, it’s basically sephiroth, jenova and hojo.

i don’t hate kingsglaive i was just disappointed. the main thing the game got right was my main grievance with kingsglaive. these are comrades, friends brought together to fight for a city not technically their own and we never get to see how their relationships fall apart. we never see luche grappling with that fact he murdered crowe, especially when he comes across pretty ambivalent to the treaty, a close friend of hers and comes back to save nyx! you don’t properly understand why crowe was specifically chosen unless you get ‘big-brain’ about it. they also could’ve done much better with the foreshadowing and as much as i like nyx and his hero-complex is basically the only arc that works, i don’t think he should’ve won. luna has the ring, insomnia was destined to fall (as much as the kings pretend it won’t) and instead of ravus, considering what ardyn is putting them through emotionally in chapter thirteen, glauca should’ve been fought by the party or better yet, have glauca be fought just before facing ardyn in the throne room.

also, i saw a theory nyx was turned into the daemon that you eventually fight to get his weapons but his body literally turns to dust so…

again, with the glaive (sorry, i will get to the game itself!) the lack of foreshadowing and contradiction with luche bothers me so much, he wrote the damn treason letter. the glaive don’t need to know his intensions but the audience should! we don’t get to see their relationships outside of nyx. the only way i can justify luche coming back to save nyx, other than the recapture of luna is maybe a part of him still wanted to get his friend on board with the cause, but the way he goes about shooting him completely lacks any familiarity. drautos had crowe killed because he thought she was the one person that would turn nyx against regis. it worked on libertus and luche was enough of a suck-up to do it himself.

the cut content thing it’s just so ‘ugh’ like the main things i wanted was an explorable insomnia (as noctis) and gralea (cause it was inspired by the uk, which is certainly loaded) and noctis’ jpn va confirmed that the boys were present during insomnia’s fall and that would’ve been so fucking cool (and the perfect opportunity to give us one actual noctis and luna scene, like a fleeting moment of them promising to reunite that wasn’t as children). knowing that, i don’t even think that’s what kingsglaive was intentionally about because nyx came into the picture when they couldn’t use noctis, so chances are the film was supposed to be about the boys sneaking out of the invasion, which makes a hell of a lot more sense as the set-up of a game which ‘opens’ on them finally out of the capital. also, as great at the scene is, regis knows exactly who the “imperial chancellor” is.

i will never forgive square for having ignis be stuck with that jedward quiff, like give me yummy hair-down ignis!

cor’s apologising for not being there to save regis, just reminded me that he’s weirdly absent from the film and of all characters in the game, he should’ve had relevance

i beat one of the niff bases severely under levelled. i was a level thirty-two, the recommended is fourty-seven with two level fifty-two bosses, after two previous waves. got my ass handed to me the first time but, think think smarter not harder and the second time wiped the floor with them because thank go for the turret as a i really wanted to boost my level early.

wally west you cannot escape my ears, not even as a niff.

call me a purist, but i don’t think you should be able to access verse two in chapter thirteen until you’ve beaten the game. you miss out on an insanely key moment playing as gladio, like the whole damn reason for this journey, luna, nyx and regis’ death’s and insomnia’s fall were collateral for noctis to put on the ring and i know people complained there was no reason, but there was. players and noctis were too comfortable with the party and their weapon load-out. ardyn forces noctis and the players to put on that ring and prove himself that he and he alone is the true king. also, noctis taking on his own legacy but also his father’s which reads to me that even throughout all of this, regis will always be there when his son needs him most. you get none of that as gladio.

comrades “ending” actively contradicts the ending of the game, like noct leaves the rock alone but in comrades a group of glaives go to retrieve him.

work with me here but i think crowe should’ve been an insomnia native. like, to say, look what the king would do to his own people.

i remember the qte being a lot shorter my first time, so i’m assuming you get as many of the royal arms as you have collected pre-ardyn. which i think i got ten? including the five you get during the story. (i’m still bitter about my save disappearance because i worked damn hard to collect all the royal arms, cause fuck costlemark tower).

i know it’s the in-game lighting but noctis’ final cgi scene shouldn’t be as bright as it is before he brings back the light.

originally (baring in mind, i played base-base ffxv, like no updates whatsoever) considered ardyn being related to noct to be really lazy purely because they didn’t properly explain it until after you get sucked into the crystal and even then i wasn’t fully convinced until we got the gentiana update and episode ardyn.

i need to know the track that plays when noctis gets oracle’s trident, like after the cosmology one.

i’ve mentioned this before but if you know seven and get ‘big brained’ about fifteen’s plot then you can potentially have the caelum’s legacy spoiled by the time gang head to cape caem. you get the blade of the mystic whilst fighting the archaean and again, like i said, if you haven’t properly looked at that thing and know seven then ya probably should. to the game’s credit, you don’t get a proper look at the sword until episode ardyn and by that point you vaguely know what somnus did, or you’re about to find out.

i find it hilarious that the guy who voices wyv, also voices bahamut.

the way the game treats iris is rancid, she is fifteen-years-old square! i don’t care if she’s got a crush on noct, but don’t force me as him to play along it’s gross. also, luna being four years older that noctis is kinda janky too, especially when so much of their romance is shown as children. he’s like nine and she’s thirteen if i’m right in thinking.

not noct having more chemistry with sarah.

visually, endgame cgi noctis and kingsglaive luna? damn that is one hot couple. they look too anime-fied in their final scene but i would’ve killed to see her kingsglaive rendition and older!noctis in its cgi glory.

aranea alludes to the fact that the emperor couldn’t go near the crystal and that ardyn was the only one who could (and that’s why ardyn insisted on being brought to insomnia because it wouldn’t have shifted without him) when you’re in tenebrae which should’ve set off alarms bells.

i don’t personally think luna was fated to die, at least not as soon as she did and had there been no imperial involvement her and noct’s journey likely wouldn’t have begun as early as it did (both she and noctis were clearly unprepared, noct more-so). to me, ardyn’s fate and personal vendetta merged in the killing of luna. to toy with noctis, push him over the edge but also taking his anger with aera (and somnus) out on luna and above all ending the remaining liability in the one cause he has control over. noct is the one true king who can end him, but that still means the caelum line could live on, even without noct. so what do? ensure the caelum line dies with luna. let’s face it, had ardyn not stepped in luna would’ve been free to join the gang and who’s to say she doesn’t end up with a caelum sprog? taking out the caelum line is ardyn’s one solstice.

i was gonna do the regalia side missions but then i remembered the glitched out sewer that gave me motion sickness.

noctis and luna are like really distant relatives, right?

on the previous comment of seven, like noctis and luna is just a shittier re-telling of cloud and aerith, even down to specifics.

noctis dies a fucking virgin, oh my god take this game off me.

the english localisation changing the “i love you” to the ‘#nohomo’ version still pisses me off. yes square, this man loves these men who are basically his brothers.

ardyn’s hatred of noctis probably isn’t helped by the fact he’s the spitting image of somnus and bahamut (which is obviously intentional because bahamut has a severe case of main character syndrome).

not being able to preview regalia colours before purchase is annoying as fuck.

the arena can suck my big, fat, hairy baws.

there’s a lot of great lines in this game but the delivery of prompto’s “son of a bitch!” will never not amuse me. though, in strong runners up are “off my chair jester, the king sits there.” or ardyn’s “is he dead?”